DP - The Determiner Phrase

According to an analysis that became popular in the mid-1980s, determiners are no longer treated as specifiers of NPs but as heads of so-called determiner phrases (DP). Under this analysis, the NP (without the determiner) is the complement of the determiner head (D).  D-bar (D') and DP are projections of D. DPs may have specifiers which themselves can be DPs. The D position can not only be filled by regular determiners but also by possessive 's and other items.

One piece of evidence for DP comes from the behavior of genitive (possessive) NPs. The genitive marker ('s) modifies the full possessor NP, not a single word (cf. c. in the list below), and hence seems to be a small word indicating possession rather than a suffix. Then, 's is in complementary distribution with determiners (d.), and thus of the same category.

  1. [the old man]'s coat
  2. [the old man standing over there]'s coat
  3. * [the old man's standing over there] coat
  4. * the old man's the coat
The rule system (English) 
1. DP  ⇨ (DP) D'
2. D'  ⇨ D NP

Consequently, the 's marker occupies the head D position of the DP, and the possessor [the old man] appears as its specifier. Note that this specifier is another DP, but without a specifier.